I have some admits, what should I be doing?

[Ilikekitties]

I’ve been admitted to 3/4 programs that I applied to (still waiting to hear back from the 4th).  2/3 have offered funding and at one place I’m waitlisted for funding.

Should I wait to give an answer to any of these programs? I’m not ready to commit to one yet because I still have to hear from the 4th place, but God Idk what I should be doing right now. At what point should I say “no” to the place where I was waitlisted for funding? When should I say no to the other programs?

These are all MA programs btw.

Edited March 10, 2018 by GameofLoans16

[TakeruK]

In short, you should say "no" to a program once you are certain that you no longer want to attend it.

And in general, unless you have special circumstances where you need a contingency, once you have all the information about at least 2 programs, you should be able to start saying no to programs. It would be considered a good practice to get the information and make a decision in a reasonably quick time frame (i.e. plan visits or schedule skype calls, whatever else you need to make the decision). Normally, one doesn't need to hear back from every possible school before some decisions can be made.

So in your case, you might be able to say no to one of the two funded programs if you have already have all the information you need to know about those two programs. If not, then wait until you have visited them (if visiting). Otherwise, determine what information you are lacking and plan to get that information via emails or Skype or whatever. 

You definitely should not commit to a program yet if you are still interested in the 4th school that has not responded. But if you have all the information you need about the two funded offers then you should turn one of them down and keep your favourite.

Then, as you wait for the waitlisted-funding and the so-far-silent school, you can re-evaluate how you feel about your funded offer vs these two. If it turns out that you then decide you no longer want either one of those two, then you should turn it down. Otherwise, it's fine to hold onto your funded offer until you hear back from these other two schools if you are more interested in one of these other two schools. If the funded offer has a deadline to decide though, then I guess you will have to either ask for an extension or commit to that funded offer by the deadline.